Unlike his predecessor, the new mayor of Moscow is a man of his time

IT IS more than a bureaucratic reshuffle. The sacking of Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow for 18 years, and the Kremlin's decision to replace him with Sergei Sobyanin, is a change of political formation. Mr Luzhkhov, one of the last autonomous regional barons in Russia, was a relic of the 1990s. Although he backed Vladimir Putin for the presidency in 2000 and remained loyal, in exchange for retaining economic control over Moscow, he was his own man. He behaved like an elected mayor even after Mr Putin scrapped elections for regional mayors and governors in 2004.

Mr Sobyanin, by contrast, is a figure of the 2000s. Reserved and inscrutable, he could not be more different from his extrovert predecessor. As head of the oil-rich Tyumen province, Mr Sobyanin was among the first governors to support Mr Putin's abolition of regional elections. His appointment signifies the return of Moscow to the Kremlin's lap, says Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist and member of Mr Putin's United Russia party.

Like many capital cities, Moscow is an anomaly. It accounts for roughly 10% of Russia's population and a quarter of national economic output—comparable to the oil and gas industry. Until Mr Luzhkov's sacking, the city represented the last bastion of regionalism outside the Kremlin's control. Mr Sobyanin's appointment irons out this kink. The change was executed by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, but it reflects Mr Putin's choice.

Mr Putin has every reason to have confidence in Mr Sobyanin. After he became president, he used Mr Sobyanin, a member of the upper house of parliament, to help him get rid of Yury Skuratov, Russia's renegade prosecutor-general. In 2005 Mr Putin made Mr Sobyanin chief of the presidential administration. When he then decided that Mr Medvedev should succeed him as president in 2008, Mr Sobyanin was entrusted with running the campaign. After Mr Putin became prime minister, Mr Sobyanin was appointed his deputy.

Unlike so much of the ruling elite, Mr Sobyanin does not come from St Petersburg (he is a native of Siberia) and has no background in the security services. And although he has worked closely with the country's big oil companies, he is not part of the oil lobby. Rather, he is a man of the system and its values, the most important of which is the supremacy of the state and its representatives. Extending and entrenching this notion will be his purpose.

As a member of the politburo of United Russia, Mr Sobyanin will ensure the party's overwhelming victory in next year's parliamentary elections. If Mr Putin decides to take back the presidency in 2012, as seems increasingly likely, Mr Sobyanin will help make it happen.

But being part of the system does not mean Mr Sobyanin will be a bad mayor. He has a reputation for efficiency. Unlike his predecessor, he is free of the taint of corruption scandals. As governor of Tyumen he persuaded some oil companies to register their headquarters there and pay taxes into the local budget, which made the region one of Russia's wealthiest.

As mayor of Moscow, where much of the oil money settles, Mr Sobyanin will need to make the city work. If he improves its efficiency, sorts out its notorious traffic and curbs petty corruption he will provide a valuable service to Muscovites as well as to the Kremlin. The danger for Mr Putin is that, if his man fails, the citizens' ire will extend all the way to the top.